The Female Director Problem Hollywood Refuses to Fix

Hello, Matriarchs!The topic of today’s episode is something that has been weighing on my mind a lot lately. Because despite all the progress we’ve supposedly made when it comes to gender equality, Hollywood still has a massive problem with actually giving women opportunities behind the camera.According to an annual study from USC Annenberg, women directed just 8% of the films that reached the domestic box office in 2025. And when you narrow that down to horror, somehow it gets even more depressing. Of those films, only two were horror: Five Nights at Freddy’s 2, directed by Emma Tammi and I Know What You Did Last Summer, directed by Jennifer Kaytin Robinson.And just to pour some salt into an already disgusting, infected wound, several major studios didn’t hire a single woman to direct one of their top films that year. This is exactly why festivals like Etheria, which specifically champion women filmmakers working in horror and sci-fi, are so important.So for today’s episode, I’m joined by director Vivian Owen, whose short film Do Not Rewind is featured in this year’s lineup. We talked about the film, the women who inspired her, and, of course, Hollywood’s ongoing problem with actually putting women behind the lens.